Star Trek's Takei petitions to move Sochi Games to Vancouver

VANCOUVER - Activist and actor George Takei, best known as helmsman Lt. Sulu in the original Star Trek TV series, is calling for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games to move to Vancouver.

He's the latest celebrity to weigh in on the controversy over Russia's anti-gay laws and is endorsing an online petition that has garnered over 40,000 supporters.

In a blog post last week, Takei notes Vancouver's facilities are still in good condition and the city would be the easiest of possible alternatives.

Takei notes Russia's ban on so-called propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations and its imposition of heavy fines contravenes the International Olympic Committee's fundamental principals and he says such intolerance wouldn't be accepted if it were aimed at Jews, Roman Catholics or Muslims.

Takei says moving the Games wouldn't seem like an outlandish proposal if the discrimination was faced by those groups.

British actor and writer Stephen Fry also called for the Olympics to be moved, writing in a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron and IOC executives asking them not to give Russian President Vladimir Putin "the approval of the civilized world."